Are you a complainer?

No, I don't mean the "nobody likes me every body hates me I'm gonna eat some worms" kind.

I mean, if you don't get your dollars worth are you one to eat it, or to say hey buddy.

I am the latter. And I am actually rather proud of myself for having conducted my complaint today on the phone, and in German.

So here is why I was upset. Many of you know from facebook we recently bought a new sofa. Well delivery is about 2 weeks later, they called and set up a time to come. Super. We made plans to be home at said time. Come home, and bam they came early and left the couch outside the door.

Now, when I paid for delivery, I paid for them to bring it into the house and make sure it fits. Thank god it did and the neighbor helped. But if we wanted to move it ourselves, we would have just used their rental truck and paid only 15 euro.

Now the neighbor was home, so it was not just abandoned. Had we not been home when we had an appointment, I would understand them leaving it. I would be a bit mad and hope they would reschedule at least. But they came early, no wonder we were not there. And then they said oh well we called.

Well a appointment is an appointment in my book. So I called up the store, and they tried to explain the policy when no one is home, and after I reiterated that had they come at the appointed time, I was there, I got a response. In the end we got a 30 euro gift card for the store. I am happy with that. That is 40% of the shipping costs. I did not expect a full refund as it was delivered, just not as described.

I was so nervous with my German, I even at one time when explaining I wanted a refund said oh I mean I will pay for the couch lol, duh. She laughed and was super nice. I told them I am totally happy with the couch, just upset to come home and see my new stuff jammed up.


The only other time I ever complained in Germany, was a mcdonalds when they forgot my husbands food after 30 minutes. We got a free apple pie then. So I must be doing better.

I am not a big hell raiser, but if it comes down to not being delivered what I have paid for I will ask for at least partial compensation and I have no qualms about that. But I know many people do. My husband will never complain, and sometimes he gets embarrassed and asks me not to, but I saw a small smile today after he saw success.

So are you a complainer?

What was your most successful complaint?

Mckenndy foods

Ok, guys so I need to track down my camera cord in the chaos that has become my home. So once I add pics to the posts, I will have another post with links to the updated threads. :)

So I mentioned about the American food at Lidl, and I wanted to leave my thoughts on the items I have had the chance to try.

1. Ranch dressing- Now never expect hidden valley here, as you wont get it. This one looks like ranch, smells like ranch, even tastes like a cheap off brand ranch. But it is by no means thick and creamy it is actually very watered down. So this does not work well at all as a dip, it would work though as a traditional dressing in a tossed salad or cooked into dishes.

2. Hamburger sauce- I have no idea what this is supposed to be, but it tasted like big mac sauce with extra pickle to me. My husband enjoyed it, I found it edible, but not something I would buy again just for myself.

3. Doritoes- They taste the same as the American ones best I can tell, though serving size is much smaller. The normal sized bags are about the size of gas station snack packs, but  nice treat once in a while. If you wanted to use it as a finger food at a piknic you would have to buy whole lot of bags.

4. Peanut butter- I have bought it before and I buy it during this week sales, not for the quality but because you get so much for a good price. Normally I pay double for a jar 1/2 the size. It is edible, but very dry and sticky. So it is not even comparable to off brands. I do also buy the more pricey stuff, but none of it is jiffy.

I will let you know about the others as I use them.

Did you pick up any items at lidl? What did you think about them?

American Week

I just reread my last post and it sounds so dry lol. oh well I try.

So I don't have pics. I will try to add them later, but if I wait the post will never get up.

I just wanted to mention what I got at Lidl

Blueberry muffin mix
Peanut butter- creamy and crunchy
Caesar and ranch dressing
I also found kraft thousand Island (not part of the sale but a bargain)
Pasta dream - knock off mac and cheese, hamburger helper, I will try tho I am skeptical I got all 3 flavors
Doritoes- cool american = cool ranch lol
Hamburger Sauce (hubby not me)
bugle style chips- but of course what flavor paprika

oh and a deep fryer :) Hubbys belated birthday present.

Next time I want to get the sandwich maker

I wanted the soft eis with carmel but forgot :(

Alive and well

Hey guys,
sorry for neglecting on the posts. I have tons I want to do, just need to get them done. But I see that many bloggers who are pregnant have a tendency to disappear for a while, so at least I am not the lone ranger :)

I am doing fine, I am now in the 9th week.

Lots of people have asked me questions that I will address in later posts. I just wanted to say I haven not forgotten about you all.

Today is the first day of American week at lidl. I am excited as always :)

Homekeeper's Journal

In my kitchen ……. We had a lazy day, so just frozen pizzas. Hubby's request. Tomorrow I plan to make hack braten and a sausage/ tortilla quiche. 

On my mind today …… lots of things- the ever growing housework, fatigue, yucky weather, calls I need to return

Something that makes me feel rather touchy …….. when people make rude and thoughtless comments or generalizations about pregnant women. 

One goal for this week is ….. to get the house whipped back into shape. Also get my meal plan worked out for next week. 

What I’m reading …… What to expect when you are expecting, Girlfriends guide to pregnancy, the shining, dream catcher, and a million little pieces

One individual I am praying for ….. I don't really limit to one individual. My father and my mother. 

I am looking forward to …… the end of the fatigue. 

On the Back Burner of my mind …… finding a new place 

I see God moving ……. in the storm outside my window

Our not so traditional registry

Hey guys- This post is mainly targeting my friends and family, so please feel free to skip over if you are not here for the mumble jumble :)

Since we have announced we are expecting many people have contacted me with tons of questions.

Will I have a baby shower?
Will I visit home before having the baby?
What items do I need now?
What gift items do I want for the baby?
Where is my gift registry?
Are there sites that I can make a registry on in the US that ships here?
What items do I need from the US that they don't have here?
How can I send you a gift?


So I wanted to take a few minutes to address just the main points as well as go over our plan.

Will I have a baby shower? I sure hope so. But seeing as that is not a German tradition I have no idea how that would work out.

Will I visit home before having the baby? Or will I have the baby in the US? No and No. I have great health care here so this is the place for me to be right now. I hope to visit next year, as a trio.

Gift registries, how does that work internationally?
Really it doesn't. Ok maybe there are sites I can make them. Maybe even a few ship international. But the majority dont. (exception UK sites) Even those that do you would spend more money to ship then for the item you bought. In reality it is just cheaper to send yourself standard mail.

What kind of things can I get you?
Well obviously there will be no requests for big items, cribs, lol. My plan is to suggest only items unique to the US or significantly cheaper in the US. As otherwise it just costs you more then it would for me to buy it here.

So what will you do then?
I will create a tab at the top of my blog that says baby registry. There I will list items that interest me that are specific to the US. I will only post things that are practical and could actually be shipped here.

I will specify if the site ships direct, if its american or uk based, ect. I wont post german sites, as most of you dont speak german. :)

I will later do a general detailed post about shipping to Germany. I had been meaning to do that for some time for my readers :)

I am still around

I have been reading a variety of books and websites relating to pregnancy and under the common pregnancy related symptoms I think they forgot one major one, losing your da*n mind.

I don't know what it is, but I have hard from many women that pregnancy causes some major changes to your thought process and/ or productivity.

So I am still alive and doing well. Still working on the binder and trying to get it finished and posted.

So just a short update

We had a fun weekend. On Saturday we headed up to Heidelberg to visit our military buddies. We had a blast. I had Taco bell for the first time in almost 2 years and it never tasted s good.

Germany does have a variety of fast food- Burger King, Mcdonalds, Subway. And in major cities even Pizza hut and KFC. But they have never latched on to the mexican.

I came home with some American snacks too :)

My husband now believes me that American food does taste good lol. He was too scared to eat taco bell but did try all of mine and liked it.

He also annihilated a package of pecan short bread cookies and has a new fondness for Cheezitz.

Sunday I went to our monthly D&D game, which was fun as always.

Other then that I am super tired and unmotivated about 90% of the time. But I am getting along. Hey its only 10 am and I folded "some", key phrase "some", of the laundry.

This pregnancy stuff really does wonders to you.